There’s a giant hole that’s draining a lake on the border of Oklahoma and Texas like it’s a bathtub

Yahoo.com ^ | June 24, 2015 | Tanya Lewis

[Smittie]

Like something straight out of "The Twilight Zone", a swirling vortex has opened up in a giant lake on the border of Oklahoma and Texas.

The gaping hole — which appeared recently in Lake Texoma — alarmed everyone from Twitter users to the Tulsa District US Army Corps of Engineers, who posted a YouTube video of the vortex. Below the video, they describe the hole as being "8 feet in diameter and capable of sucking in a full-sized boat."

[exPBRrat]

I avoid ‘yahoo.com’ like the plague...must find the pics somewhere else.

[Segovia]

that totally cracked me up!

[smokingfrog]

Some might say that the headline is a little misleading...

[444Flyer]

Obamacare and your money.

[deport]

Swirling Vortex Is Draining Lake Texoma on Texas-Oklahoma Border

http://www.weather.com/news/news/lake-texoma-vortex-oklahoma-texas-flooding-draining

A giant swirling vortex is draining Lake Texoma like a bathtub after the
Army Corps of Engineers took steps recently to lower water levels on the
Texas-Oklahoma border reservoir.

Lake Texoma reached historic levels after record-breaking rains saturated
the region in the past weeks and caused flooding and destruction.

When authorities lowered water levels by opening floodgates, the
massive vortex formed.

“Just like in your house, when you fill a bathtub full of water and [open]
the drain, it will develop a vortex or whirlpool,” assistant lake
manager BJ Parkey told Business Insider.

When drainage began, the vortex was initially 8 feet wide and powerful enough
to suck in a full size boat, prompting officials to post warning signs and
buoys, lake manager Joe Custer told KXII-TV.

In the video above, taken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tulsa
District, the hole spins counter clockwise as water floods into the Denison
Dam spillway. The corps says a vortex like this is common when flood control
gates are used.

Authorities plan to keep the floodgates open, and estimate the lake will
reach normal levels by the end of July.

[Ditter]

I have heard that the only reason that Texas doesn’t slip off into the Gulf is because Oklahoma sucks. I guess this is proof!

[umgud]

Waterfall without the cliffs?

[rstrahan]

Was fishing at the gates of Lake Texarkana, with the gates wide open. Downstream fishing during that time is great. Suddenly this 16’ runabout with motor comes flying out through the gates.

Luckily, it had drifted away from its mooring, so no one was aboard, but had been sucked down through a similar vortex.

[Colorado Doug]

Misleading overly-sensationalized headline. It’s just a vortex from the floodgates being opened to lower the reservoir’s level.

[Smittie]

Misleading overly-sensationalized headline. It’s just a vortex from the floodgates being opened to lower the reservoir’s level.

That's true but it makes a great metaphor on the current state of the Union...

[ETL]

"Sinkholes are common where the rock below the land surface is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can naturally be dissolved by groundwater circulating through them. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground. Sinkholes are dramatic because the land usually stays intact for a while until the underground spaces just get too big. If there is not enough support for the land above the spaces then a sudden collapse of the land surface can occur. These collapses can be small, or, as this picture shows, or they can be huge and can occur where a house or road is on top.

The most damage from sinkholes tends to occur in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. The picture to the left shows a sinkhole that quickly opened up in Florida, apparently eating a swimming pool, some roadway, and buildings."

http://water.usgs.gov/edu/sinkholes.html

[PGR88]

its just becoming ground-water, that’s all.

Someone with a well a long way away will probably be happy

[cripplecreek]

No mystery to it. In fact I doubt the USACE are "shocked" either.

Massive Drain Creates Giant Vortex in Lake Texoma in Oklahoma

A six to eight foot-diameter vortex was caught on camera at Lake Texoma in Oklahoma as officials opened up the Denison Dam to drain the overflowing lake, an official said.

[ETL]

Areas prone to collapse sinkholes

The map below shows areas of the United States where certain rock types that are susceptible to dissolution in water occur. In these areas the formation of underground cavities can form and catastrophic sinkholes can happen. These rock types are evaporites (salt, gypsum, and anhydrite) and carbonates (limestone and dolomite). Evaporite rocks underlie about 35 to 40 percent of the United States, though in many areas they are buried at great depths.

http://water.usgs.gov/edu/sinkholes.html

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Two words: salt dome

[norwaypinesavage]

" toilets flush counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere."

Actually, the water moves the same way in both hemispheres. (You're just looking at it from the other side.)

[ETL]

There’s a hole in the world tonight
There’s a cloud of fear and sorrow
There’s a hole in the world tonight
Don’t let there be a hole in the world tomorrow

They say that anger is just love disappointed
They say that love is just a state of mind
But all this fighting over who is anointed
Oh, how can people be so blind?

There’s a hole in the world tonight
There’s a cloud of fear and sorrow
There’s a hole in the world tonight
Don’t let there be a hole in the world tomorrow

Oh, they tell me there’s a place over yonder
Cool water running through the burning sand
Until we learn to love one another
We will never reach the promised land

There’s a hole in the world tonight
There’s a cloud of fear and sorrow
There’s a hole in the world tonight
Don’t let there be a hole in the world tomorrow

(There’s a hole in the world tonight)
They say that anger is just love disappointed
(There’s a cloud of fear and sorrow)
They say that love is just a state of mind
(There’s a hole in the world tonight)
But all this fighting over who will be anointed
(Don’t let there be a hole in the world tomorrow)
Oh, how can people be so blind?

There’s a hole in the world tonight
Hole in the world
There’s a cloud of fear and sorrow
Fear and sorrow
There’s a hole in the world tonight
Don’t let there be a hole in the world tomorrow
_______________________

Hole in the World
by The Eagles

[GeronL]

It is a drain that reduces lake levels when its too high

nothing new or novel there

cool video of it out there though

[jmacusa]

No it’s big worms! Big giant slimy worms! First they suck up all the water and then they come after people! Run for your life!!

[LachlanMinnesota]

They mention flood gates. Is the vortex near the dam intake? If so, its going downstream. Click bait.